Economic Freedom of North America: 2008 Annual Report (US Edition)

This is the fifth edition of the annual report,
Economic Freedom of North America
, and this year marks the first time we are producing a US
edition of the report. The statistical results of this year's
study persuasively confirm those published in the previous four
editions: economic freedom is a powerful driver of growth and
prosperity. Those provinces and states that have low levels of
economic freedom continue to leave their citizens poorer than
they need or should be.

The index published in
Economic Freedom of North America
rates economic freedom on a 10-point scale at two levels, the
subnational and the all-government. At the all-government
level, the index captures the impact of restrictions on
economic freedom by all levels of government (federal,
state/provincial, and municipal/local). At the subnational
level, it captures the impact of restrictions by state or
provincial and local governments.
Economic Freedom of North America
employs 10 components in three areas: 1. Size of Government; 2.
Takings and Discriminatory Taxation; and 3. Labor Market
Freedom.

Not only is economic freedom important for the level of
prosperity: growth in economic freedom spurs economic growth.
As expected, the impact of economic freedom at the
all-government level is greater than the impact at the
subnational level since the first index captures a broader
range of limitations on economic freedom than the second.